THE 80 Building the machine Democrats never built.
A 501(c)(4) investment vehicle for permanent, multi-state political infrastructure — capital that behaves like an investor, not a donor.
The thesis in one paragraph
The American right did not out-organize the center-left in a single election cycle. It built institutions across six decades that outlasted every candidate and every loss. The center-left has never built the equivalent. This is not a messaging problem. It is an infrastructure gap. The 80 exists to close it, state by state, on a multi-cycle horizon.
What your money buys
The 80 invests along three directions at once — and then repeats that combination state by state. A donor is not funding one program; they are funding the combination, in a specific place, for multiple cycles.
Long-horizon, state-by-state political organizing powered by seasoned, regionally rooted, multi-cycle campaign leaders who are committed, self-sufficient, and proven winners.
Permanent HQ team driving strategy and tactics for each state. Shared research, message testing, and creative capacity so every state build carries one brand, real-time data, and amplification.
Funds and stands up the organizer and regional-lead field structure. Partners with or invests in existing state infrastructure rather than duplicating it.
This is the executive summary of The 80 Prospectus. The chapters below contain research, legal architecture, capital strategy, hiring schedule, and state-by-state budgets. Each section links to the corresponding chapters.
The majority already exists. It needs a platform. We hope you will help us build it.The 80
What the name means
Our name claims the eighty percent of Americans who agree on the majority of policy and want the same handful of things. That common ground runs through most of the Democratic Party. It lives in the center-left, and it includes independents, moderates, and a great many people who tuned out because nothing on offer sounded like them.
An affordable path to live their lives.
Safety from threats at home and abroad.
Trust that government works and is not for sale.
Confidence that their children have one.
What follows is not a pitch in prose. It is the plan itself.
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01 Executive SummaryThe case, the two proof points, the opposition, the operating model, and the ask. You are here
- 02 Model StateThe state template: what one state costs, built from the bottom up, and how we scale across the country. In this book
- 03 Research & PolicyThe six focus states, the 80% Agenda, and the Democratic Brand Tracker baseline. In this book
- 04 The TeamThe senior team, the operators, and the advisers accountable for the build. In this book
- 05 Go DeeperThe full working sites behind this book: Civic & Political, the 80 Engine, and the Influencer Network. In this book
The pages ahead make the case. This summary sets the stage.
Disclosure. This document is for internal and donor-facing informational purposes. Contributions to The 80 Action for America Inc support activities that further educational and social welfare purposes but may be used to support partisan political activities. Contributions to 501(c)(4) organizations are not deductible for federal income tax purposes as charitable contributions.
Confidential donor framework — not for distribution. Figures describing The 80's capital position, team, and field activity are as reported by the organization. Historical claims regarding Michigan and Colorado are drawn from The 80 / C4 Framework V2 and, for Colorado, from The Blueprint: How the Democrats Won Colorado (2010). Figure 6 is a schematic illustration of the phased model described in the text and does not plot measured data.
Democrats are set up for wins in the mid-terms. Without permanent infrastructure, those gains can be completely reversed.
Every two years, Democratic operatives build campaigns for candidates and then take them apart. Staff moves on. Data goes stale. Relationships are built, then gone before the next campaign starts.
The other side spent fifty years building institutions that were never meant to come down. You can see the results in the courts, in school boards, and in state houses. Eight organizations — founded across six decades, every one still operating — form a compounding machine. No single donation built it. No single election broke it.
Machines built over decades. No center-left answer.
Three forces oppose each other — while reinforcing each other's hold on the political system. None of them has a counterpart on the center-left.
Focus
"Crushing liberal dominance" across institutions.
Goal
Destroying all institutions built by "the elites" and creating their new "pure" vision of society.
Behavior
Protect the status quo and profit enormously cycle after cycle.
What these machines run on
Annual spend. Architect of Project 2025.
2024 revenue, 500,000 donors, 3,500+ campus chapters.
2024 budget. Each member pledges $100K a year.
Share of all cable news viewers, dominant for 24 years.
Americans for Prosperity is one of fifteen member groups producing roughly 75% of post-Citizens United dark money. Source: conservative infrastructure timeline, The 80 capital allocation memo.
The machine is not finished. Republicans are going all-in on AI for the 2026 mid-terms: 64% of GOP consultants use it daily, and more than $100 million in AI-industry money is backing Republican campaigns. The DNC has banned ChatGPT and Claude for staff and asked campaigns to avoid AI-generated content entirely.
Follow the money
The infrastructure gap is not only an absence. It is an absence against three organised, well-capitalised forces — two of them opposed to us, one of them nominally on our side and structurally uninterested in changing.
Spending is rising, not falling. The machines described above are the beneficiaries of that increase; the center-left has no comparable standing structure to receive it.
Our model is not theoretical. It has been built successfully twice at the state level.
Colorado proves it at the capital-and-institution level, and has now run for more than two decades. Michigan proves it at the field-organizing level.
Proof point one — the Colorado Blueprint
Colorado was one of the most reliably Republican states in the country as recently as 2002. Beginning in 2004, a small group of donors — Pat Stryker, Tim Gill, Jared Polis, and Rutt Bridges, organized with the help of retired university president Albert Yates — built a coordinated funding vehicle that became the Colorado Democracy Alliance. The 2010 book The Blueprint: How the Democrats Won Colorado, written by a Democratic journalist and a former Republican state legislator, tells the story.
What Colorado Actually Built
Members-only, directing pooled donor capital to more than 30 aligned nonprofits and independent-expenditure groups — instead of one donor writing one check to one campaign.
A consistent statewide message carried across every funded organization, rather than each group improvising its own.
Contenders with genuine ties to their communities, not outside recruits parachuted into targeted districts.
A shared willingness to set aside internal policy disagreements and unify around winning — The 80's own "Rebuild the Big Tent" principle.
Proof point two — Project 83, Michigan
In 2017, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes (The 80 cofounder) launched Project 83 — named for Michigan's 83 counties — on three tenets: refocus on local parties and local candidates, retrain local leadership and grassroots activists, rebuild the Democratic brand in communities the party had ceded. Not a cycle-specific field program: a standing network of regional Political Specialists working year-round.
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2017
Project 83 launched
Permanent, year-round organizing infrastructure stood up inside the state party's existing budget — largely improvised.
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2018
Governorship recaptured
Held a U.S. Senate seat and gained state legislative seats, in the cycle nationally understood as a referendum on the first Trump term.
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2020
Michigan delivered for the presidential ticket
Swept statewide offices despite a pandemic that disrupted traditional field organizing.
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2022
First Democratic trifecta in 40 years
Both chambers, plus all three statewide row offices.
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2024
The trifecta broke — the state House flipped back
A genuine setback. Standing infrastructure did not guarantee a win in a hostile national environment.
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2026
The infrastructure survived the cycle that beat it
County party organizations, the trained volunteer base, and the candidate pipeline did not disappear with the loss. Outside investment is already returning to Michigan specifically because that underlying infrastructure is still standing.
Infrastructure that survives a bad cycle instead of evaporating with it is the entire argument for treating this as an investment rather than a campaign expense. Project 83 is proof the model works. It is also proof the model needs patient, multi-cycle capital to reach its potential — Michigan built it inside one state party's existing budget. The 80's job is to do deliberately, with dedicated capital and a national blueprint, what Michigan discovered by necessity.
Project 83 shows what disciplined, permanent field infrastructure looks like inside a single state party. Colorado shows what happens when that infrastructure is capitalized deliberately, across a full ecosystem of organizations, and sustained for decades. The 80 is built to combine both: field infrastructure funded the way Colorado's donor coalition funded its own.
One 501(c)(4) with three integrated functions
Permanent capacity, assembled from the contested states outward.
Recruits, trains, and supports the candidates the infrastructure exists to elect. Rebuilds local parties and incubates activist networks.
Shared research, message testing, and creative capacity, so every state build carries one brand and real-time data instead of reinventing a messaging shop from zero.
Funds and stands up the organizer and regional-lead field structure. Partners with or invests in existing state infrastructure rather than duplicating it.
Why a 501(c)(4)
The entity structure follows directly from the problem being solved.
- Multi-year commitments. A (c)(4) can hold and deploy capital on a long-term horizon rather than being bound to election-cycle reporting and spending patterns — which is what permanent infrastructure requires and what campaign committees structurally cannot do.
- Partisan flexibility within a social-welfare mission. A 501(c)(4) can engage in political activity as part of — not the entirety of — its social welfare mission, allowing The 80 to fund Center-Left party infrastructure, civic organizations, and issue advocacy under one roof rather than fragmenting the work across single-purpose vehicles.
- Donor structure suited to patient capital. Contributions are not tax-deductible as charitable gifts. That is the tradeoff for the flexibility above, and it is stated plainly in every donor conversation and in the closing disclosure of every 80 presentation.
- A holding structure for a portfolio, not a single program. The 80 is meant to partner with, invest in, and in some cases acquire existing organizations — state parties, civic orgs, policy shops — rather than build every function from scratch. A 501(c)(4) is structured for exactly that.
Not every state should be built the same way or in the same order
What persuades a voter in Michigan will not persuade one in Georgia. Four criteria we will use to choose how and when to invest in a state.
| Criterion | Guiding question |
|---|---|
| Electoral leverage | Does building durable infrastructure here plausibly change control of a legislative chamber, a statewide office, or a congressional delegation within two cycles? |
| Existing infrastructure condition | Is the state party a foundation to invest in and strengthen — a "performance turnaround," as Michigan's own party once was — or a near-total rebuild from the ground up? |
| Cost to stand up coverage | What does a beachhead-to-full-coverage build cost, driven primarily by county count and the organizer-to-county ratio validated in Michigan? |
| Proof-of-concept value | Will an early, visible win here make the next state easier to fund — i.e., does it demonstrate the model to future donors the way Michigan now demonstrates it to us? |
Rome Wasn't Built in a Day
Michigan did not staff all 83 counties on day one. Project 83 grew into full coverage over multiple cycles. The 80 replicates that discipline deliberately rather than rediscovering it under pressure.
It gives donors a visible, fundable proof point before committing to full-state cost — and it mirrors exactly how Michigan's own model actually developed, which is the strongest evidence available that it works.
Foundational operating tenets — from day one, in every state
- Use local talent wherever possible; create a mentor/coach role while a young organizer comes up to speed.
- Have every organizer become a notary.
- Monthly, in-person, statewide organizer meetings — moved around the state, held midweek, each including a novel skill class such as first aid or self-defense.
- A weekly call where organizers share successes and challenges and get input from the group.
- Encourage cooperative programming between regions.
- Debrief volunteers and staff from the top levels down — it makes people feel valued and drives participation.
- Humanize the organization. Our people should be the face of the movement.
- Keep diversity a top priority at every level.
$29.9 million to build the national team and deploy six states
Anyone asked to invest in infrastructure is owed a look at the infrastructure — and an understanding of the return.
A member of our board and team built Project 83. The Colorado Blueprint has compounded sustained success for 22 years. The 80 is the first vehicle to take the best learnings from both models and systematically execute them at once, across multiple states, driving smart local and national capital.
The national team is hired first, then six states deploy behind it. Infrastructure built on a cycle timeline arrives too late to matter; the team has to exist before the cycle it is meant to win.
Michigan proved the model works inside an ordinary state-party budget. It also proved the model needs multi-cycle capital to reach its potential. That is the gap a donor closes here.
The 80 targets a return in excess of any 10× benchmark, measured against the cost of rebuilding equivalent capability from scratch each cycle. The underlying model, assumptions, and reporting cadence sit in the Operations & Financing chapter.
This is not the five-year plan. It is the case for why a five-year plan, funded like an investment portfolio rather than an election-cycle expense, is the only version of this that has ever actually worked.
What this framework unlocks next
With this scaffolding in place, the next step is building individual, fully costed state models — organizer counts, regional-lead management layers, phased budgets, and timelines — for each state on the priority track, starting with the pilot. Each state model will:
How we measure success
The commitments for the first year. This is the accountability contract — the list to hold up at the twelve-month mark and ask, item by item, whether it happened.
- National leadership and operations established
- Governance and decision rights approved
- Research, platform, and media interfaces operating
- National creative team in place
- Core workflows and templates in use
- Technology stack selected
- Measurement dashboard live
- Target-audience reach achieved
- Priority states activated
- State research and narrative strategies completed
- Continuous editorial running in pilot states
- State partner ecosystems mapped
- First creator and media activations completed
- Brand and narrative baselines established
- Evidence of audience or partner response documented
- The 80 can deploy an integrated team into a state
- Partners and candidates can get real research, messaging, and content
- We can respond quickly to emerging moments
- Learning transfers between states
- Funders can see how investment connects to visible activity and outcomes
Live community measures
If The80 Live is built into the pilot state, these are the measures that come with it.
- Number and quality of recurring local events established
- Repeat attendance and community growth
- Number and quality of local partnerships
- New ambassadors, creators, community leaders, and local voices surfaced
- Creator, activist, ambassador, and trusted-voice participation
- Influencer-network participation and retention
- Content and stories generated from live experiences
- Post-event civic interest, referrals, and volunteer interest
- Trust, familiarity, perceived cultural fit, and belonging over time
- Evidence that live activity strengthens the local narrative environment
The quantified KPIs that sit behind this scorecard — reach, persuasion, activation, and narrative movement targets — are being finalized and will be published here.
What the national team costs, and what one state costs on top of it
The national team is hired first — it exists before any state deployment and serves every state that follows. Each state is then the same template, repeated. Move both sliders to build the organization.
Hired before state deployment. Senior leadership, civic and political staff, engine staff, plus operating costs — $6.235M a year, whether one state is running or six.
Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas — the six priority states. Each carries the same three functions at $3.94M a year.
The national team — $6.235M
| Line | Annual |
|---|---|
| Full national team Senior leadership · civic & political · engine staff | $5,235,000 |
| Operating costs Additional, non-salary | $1,000,000 |
| National total | $6,235,000 |
Hired first. This figure does not scale with the number of states.
One state — $3.94M
| Function | Annual |
|---|---|
| Civic & Political State director and regional directors, combined | $1,120,000 |
| The 80 Engine State creative and communications team | $1,250,000 |
| Influencer Network Advocate platform, incentives and amplification | $1,570,000 |
| Per state, per year | $3,940,000 |
Identical in every state. County count and competitiveness change the mix inside Civic & Political, not the total.
| At current settings | Basis | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| National team | Hired first; serves every state | $6.24M |
| State deployment | 6 × $3.94M — Civic & Political, Engine, Influencer Network | $23.64M |
| Total annual | — | $29.88M |
The figures above are staff and platform only. They exclude activations, live and in-person events, and media budgets — costs that vary materially by state and are being scoped state by state rather than estimated from the centre.
That exclusion is the difference between the $29.9M six-state floor and the $60M ask. The floor is what it costs to put people and platforms in place; the ask is what it costs to put them to work.
How the template scales
The national team is stood up before any state deploys. It is a fixed annual cost, not a per-state one, and every state draws on it.
Each state is the same three functions at the same cost. The negotiation is about which state and when, not about what a state build is.
Because every state reports against identical lines, a donor evaluating two states is comparing the same categories of spend.
In 2027, The 80 is focusing first on six states that make a difference
We are conducting deep research, building specific plans, and developing ground-up partnerships to invigorate the Center-Left in these states.
Democrats lost all six in the 2024 presidential election, and together they hold 48.6 million registered voters. They are not a safe-seat portfolio — they are the states where a durable center-left majority either gets built or does not.
True battleground. Laboratory for whether a practical, Center-Left coalition can hold in a fast-changing border state. Understand affordability, immigration, abortion, and trust in democracy move suburban, Latino, Native, and younger voters.
’08 R — McCain | ’20 D — Biden | ’24 R — Trump
2026 Elected DelegationGov: D | Senate: 2D | House: 6R / 3D
2027 PredictionToss-up. Slow drift toward Democrats.
Hobbs reelection bid · AZ Capitol TimesClosely divided. Multiracial, metro-driven Democratic coalition. Tests how to rebuild support among Black voters and persuadable suburban voters — from a Center-Left frame.
’08 R — McCain | ’20 D — Biden | ’24 R — Trump
2026 Elected DelegationGov: R | Senate: 2D | House: 9R / 5D
2027 PredictionDemocrats hold Senate; governor a coin flip.
Sabato: Likely D Senate · AJC Gov pollingTest of whether Democrats can reconnect with rural, working-class, and small-town voters, now decisively Republican. Proving-ground for a Center-Left economic-populist message centered on cost of living, opportunity, competence, and respect.
’08 D — Obama | ’20 R — Trump | ’24 R — Trump
2026 Elected DelegationGov: R | Senate: 2R | House: 4R / 0D
2027 PredictionMovement toward center; Democrats within reach.
Cook: Gov Toss-up · Sand +12 in EchelonRebuilding working- and middle-class Democratic brand in a tight-margin state. Tests whether Center-Left messages can unite union members, young, Black, and disaffected non-college voters around economic security.
’08 D — Obama | ’20 D — Biden | ’24 R — Trump
2026 Elected DelegationGov: D | Senate: 2D | House: 7R / 6D
2027 PredictionToss-up; open Senate and governor seats up for grabs.
Peters open seat · Sabato: Toss-upConvert demographic growth and suburban gains into statewide wins. Identify the message and turnout formula needed to close the persistent gap among Black voters, suburban moderates, and rural persuadables.
’08 D — Obama | ’20 R — Trump | ’24 R — Trump
2026 Elected DelegationGov: D | Senate: 2R | House: 10R / 4D
2027 PredictionTrending Democratic; Cooper favored to flip Senate seat.
Sabato/Cook: Leans D · Cooper +6 forecastOpportunity state: large, diverse, fast-growing, and increasingly shaped by internal Republican conflict. A practical Democratic agenda can make new inroads with suburban families, Latino voters, and hyper-pragmatic voters.
’08 R — McCain | ’20 R — Trump | ’24 R — Trump
2026 Elected DelegationGov: R | Senate: 2R | House: 24R / 13D (1 vac.)
2027 PredictionRepublican-held but tightening; GOP primary fracturing.
Cook: Likely R Senate · Talarico +7 UT pollRegistered voters: state Secretaries of State. Presidential results: FEC 2008, Ballotpedia 2020, FEC 2024. 2026 elected delegation: governors and 119th Congress delegation as of August 2026. Predictions cite Cook, Sabato and state polling as noted; they are forecasts, not results.
Working-class voters rendered a harsh verdict on Democrats. They see the party as weak, unpatriotic and out of touch with their everyday economic struggles and values.Will Marshall, President, Progressive Policy Institute
Positions with 80%+ Democratic support — and cross-partisan reach
Every item below has been confirmed at 80% or higher Democratic support in at least one major independent poll. The right-hand columns are where the agenda stops being a base-consolidation exercise and starts being a majority.
| Position | Dem | Rep | Ind | Signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earned pathway to citizenship for Dreamers | 93% | 71% | 74% | Strongest cross-partisan finding in the agenda |
| Universal background checks for gun sales | 92%+ | ~80% | — | The most consistently polled 80%+ issue in America |
| Federal paid family and medical leave | 90% | 76% | 79% | U.S. is the only wealthy democracy without it |
| Protecting and expanding Social Security | 90% | 75% | — | AARP, NASI and U.S. Chamber all aligned |
| Campaign finance reform / limits on outside spending | 90% | 81% | — | Among the most consistent long-term findings |
| Banning congressional stock trading | 88% | 87% | 81% | #2 issue for voters 18–34, behind cost of living |
| Kids online safety / safeguards for minors | 88% | 87% | 82% | Near-unanimity across all three partisan groups |
| Restoring and expanding affordable broadband | 86% | — | — | Rural communities are the primary beneficiaries |
| Antitrust enforcement / breaking up monopolies | ~85% | — | — | ~78% overall |
| Protecting U.S. farmland from foreign adversary purchases | — | — | — | Senate 91–7. Virtually absent from Democratic messaging despite the record |
The party's path to durable national majorities runs through the suburban and rural center, not the urban activist base. The 80% Agenda items are the bridge: issues that unite the moderate and progressive-liberal blocs while offering genuine appeal to persuadable independents and soft Republicans.
Source: The 80% Agenda for REAL Democrats, John Avlon, June 2026. Underlying polling includes Pew, KFF, Gallup, Quinnipiac, Navigator Research, UMD/PPC, AARP/NASI, PPI/YouGov and the Manhattan Institute.
The median Democratic voter is not who the party is assumed to be
John Avlon's 80% Agenda research examines the actual composition of the Democratic coalition and the policy positions that command supermajority support inside it. Its finding is the foundation of The 80's thesis: the agreement already exists.
of the Democratic coalition is the DSA-aligned bloc. Manhattan Institute, Feb 2026
is the moderate bloc — more than four times larger. Manhattan Institute, Feb 2026
Democrats who want the party to move toward the center outnumber those who want it to move left.
Working-class voters rendered a harsh verdict on Democrats. They see the party as weak, unpatriotic and out of touch with their everyday economic struggles and values.Will Marshall, President, Progressive Policy Institute
Positions with 80%+ Democratic support — and cross-partisan reach
Every item below has been confirmed at 80% or higher Democratic support in at least one major independent poll. The right-hand columns are where the agenda stops being a base-consolidation exercise and starts being a majority.
| Position | Dem | Rep | Ind | Signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earned pathway to citizenship for Dreamers | 93% | 71% | 74% | Strongest cross-partisan finding in the agenda |
| Universal background checks for gun sales | 92%+ | ~80% | — | The most consistently polled 80%+ issue in America |
| Federal paid family and medical leave | 90% | 76% | 79% | U.S. is the only wealthy democracy without it |
| Protecting and expanding Social Security | 90% | 75% | — | AARP, NASI and U.S. Chamber all aligned |
| Campaign finance reform / limits on outside spending | 90% | 81% | — | Among the most consistent long-term findings |
| Banning congressional stock trading | 88% | 87% | 81% | #2 issue for voters 18–34, behind cost of living |
| Kids online safety / safeguards for minors | 88% | 87% | 82% | Near-unanimity across all three partisan groups |
| Restoring and expanding affordable broadband | 86% | — | — | Rural communities are the primary beneficiaries |
| Antitrust enforcement / breaking up monopolies | ~85% | — | — | ~78% overall |
| Protecting U.S. farmland from foreign adversary purchases | — | — | — | Senate 91–7. Virtually absent from Democratic messaging despite the record |
The party's path to durable national majorities runs through the suburban and rural center, not the urban activist base. The 80% Agenda items are the bridge: issues that unite the moderate and progressive-liberal blocs while offering genuine appeal to persuadable independents and soft Republicans.
Source: The 80% Agenda for REAL Democrats, John Avlon, June 2026. Underlying polling includes Pew, KFF, Gallup, Quinnipiac, Navigator Research, UMD/PPC, AARP/NASI, PPI/YouGov and the Manhattan Institute.
Research First: Every Dollar Answers to Hard Data and Signals from On-the-Ground
Focused beginning — then deploy to additional states at the beginning of 2027.
This workstream is the exemplar of how The 80 uses research to inform our outreach, decision-making, and investments beginning 2027. Every downstream dollar answers to research and data.
Baseline polling across six priority states. The 80 partners with Ipsos and Texas A&M — led by Dr. Cliff Young. Foundation driving our approach for the next decade.
Get this right, then build the "Democratic Brand Tracker" — source of truth turning the deep Democratic brand damage headwinds into tailwinds.
Focus states won by Democrats in the 2024 presidential election.
AZ, GA, IA, MI, NC, TXDemocratic Party favorability. Just one point above Quinnipiac's all-time low since it first asked in '08.
Quinnipiac, March 2026Trump current approval rating. Record low for his presidential terms.
Reuters / Ipsos, August 2026Four-year drop, 2020 to 2024, of those identifying as Democrats vs. Republicans.
Gallup Annual Party AffiliationDemocratic-leaning voters dissatisfied with their party and leadership.
NYT / Siena, May 2026Swing-state working-class, non-college voters who trust Democrats to fight for people like them. Republicans: 50%.
PPI / YouGov, 2024Young voters (18–29) who say Democrats care more about elites than people like them.
Harvard Youth Poll, Spring 2026Priority Focus States
Six states where The 80 is running the first brand-tracker cuts — preparing for 2027 on-the-ground investment.
Favorability has fallen 15 points from 46% at the start of the 2020 cycle, and even Democrats aren't sure why: 44% of self-identified Democrats say they're unsatisfied with their own party.
National averages mask granular collapse. The credibility problem in North Carolina does not look like Arizona's or Michigan's; Latino voters in Texas do not track with non-college white voters in Iowa. Our research and data will match that complexity and be taken seriously by key actors nationally and on the ground.
The full attribute set
The pattern holds across every attribute tested. The Democratic Party trails the Republican Party on five of seven, and trails every reference brand on competence measures.
| Attribute | Dem | Republicans | Red Cross | Apple | Nike | Whole Foods | AARP | Tesla |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delivers on what it promises | 23 | 30 | 57 | 49 | 47 | 38 | 35 | 30 |
| Can be trusted to do the right thing | 25 | 25 | 59 | 30 | 28 | 27 | 32 | 18 |
| Produces high-quality results | 19 | 27 | 57 | 59 | 54 | 45 | 29 | 34 |
| Makes a positive difference | 30 | 30 | 66 | 42 | 36 | 37 | 40 | 28 |
| Is clear about what it stands for | 32 | 44 | 62 | 46 | 44 | 36 | 41 | 34 |
| Is a well-run organization | 18 | 27 | 50 | 57 | 44 | 29 | 33 | 36 |
| Understands people like me | 30 | 29 | 42 | 32 | 31 | 24 | 29 | 16 |
Figures are percentage agreement. Highlighted rows are the two lowest Democratic scores — both competence measures rather than values measures.
The tracker exists so that every state investment starts from a measured baseline and can be judged against movement in that baseline — rather than against whether the cycle happened to go well.
The people accountable for the build
Permanent infrastructure depends on people as much as capital. This section carries the senior team, the operators, and the advisers who have signed on.
If you want the detail behind any section of this book — the line-item budget, a specific state model, or the people named above — ask The 80 directly.
The working detail behind every section
The prospectus makes the case. These three companion sites carry the line-item budgets, the state-by-state model, and the programs the money builds.
Each site links back here. If you want a walk-through of any of them, ask The 80 directly.